Differential clip for aerial ropeways



Y. TAMAMURA. DIFFERENTIAL CLIP FOR AERIAL ROPEWAYS- APPLICATION map FEB. 14, 1.921.

1,392,978. Patented Oct. 11, 1921.

6 SHEETSSHEET' 'l- Y. TAMAMURA. DIFFERENTIAL cm FOR AERIAL ROPEWAYS.

. APPLICATION FILED FEB. 14, 1921- 1,392,978. Patented Oct. 11, 1921.

6 SHEETSSHEET 2.

Y. TAM'AMURA.

DIFFERENTIAL CLIP FOR AERIAL HOPEWAYS.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 14, 1921.

Patented 001.11, 1921.

6 SHEETS-SHEET s.

Y. TAMAMURA.

DIFFERENTIAL CLIP FOR AERIAL ROPEWAYS.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 14. 1921'.

1,392,978, Patented Oct. 11, 1921.

6 SHEETSSHEET 4.

Wm.- J MWM Y. TAMAMURA. DIFFERENTIAL CLIP FOR AERIAL ROPEWAYS.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. I4, I921.

Patented Oct. 11, 1921.

6 SHEETS-SHEET 5.

; WU J W Y.-TAMAMURA.

. DIFFERENTIAL CUP FOR AERIAL ROPEWAYS.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 14, I921.

1,392,978, Patented Oct. 11, 1921.

6 SHEETS-SHEET 6.

UNITED STATES YUSUKE TAMAMURA,

PATENT OFFICE.

OF TOKYD-FU, JAPAN.

DIFFERENTIAL CLIP non AERIAL norriwAYs.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, YUsUKn TAMAMURA, civil engineer, a subject of His Majesty the Emperor of Japan, residing at No. 18 Genbei, Totsuka machi, Toyotama gun, Tokyo-fu, Japan, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Differential Clips for Aerial Ropeways, of which the following is a specification.

In the specification of my United States Letters Patent No. 850,504 granted April 16, 1907, there is described a clip or grip for engaging the hauling-rope in aerial ropeways wherein use is made of two jaw-levers of unequal lengths which are operated by gravity through the weight of the car or the car and its contents. y

This invention relates to a clip or grip of the same general construction as the one described in the aforementioned patent but provides a more improved apparatus which fulfils more effectively the purpose for which the apparatus is designed.

According to this invention the free ends of the longer lever-arms are adjustably fixed to the frame member at a point which is normally lower than the hauling-rope, and on the tail portion of the shorter lever-arm is provided an arcuate slot along which a pin is made to slide longitudinally as the inclination of the hauling-rope varies, which sliding will have the efiect of automatically adjusting the effective length of the shorter lever-arm. The longitudinal motion of the said pin is caused by means of another pin rigidly connected with the said first pin and an inclined slot provided on an annular member connected in driving relation to the carriage hanger. The invention further comprises means of magnifying angle of rotation, such as a set of toothed wheels of different diameters, by which the rotation of the hanger relative to the system of the lever-arms caused. by the varying inclinationsof the hauling-rope may be magnified in proportion to the ratio of the diameters of the said toothed wheels. This magnification of angular displacement will make the sliding motion of the second pin along the inclined slot smoother.

The object of the present invention is'to provide a grip which will firmly grasp the hauling-rope in an inclined position in such a manner that the grasping force, instead of being constant as in grips heretofore employed, will be increasedas the inclination Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Oct. 11, 1921.

14, 1921. Serial No. 444,920.

of the haulingrope increases, thus obviating the slightest possibility of slipping.

Another object of the invention is to provide a grip which may be adapted to any system of cable transportation, either single or double, regardless of the amount of the load to be carried.

Still another object is to so construct a On the drawings, similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several views.

Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view of my improved grip in operating position, the section being taken on the central line of Fig. 2.

Fig. 2 is a top plan view.

Fig. 3 is a front view of my improved grip in the starting position at a loading station. i

Fig. 4 is a side view of my grip in a reing-rope 1. An arcuate slot 7 is formed on the tail portion of the shorter lever-arm 3, along which slides a horizontal pin 8 as the inclination of the hauling-rope 1 varies. Pin 8 is rigidly fixed to the extensions 9 which are integral with the annular member 9 turnably mountedv upon the cam-ring 10. To the annular member 9 is fixed a radial pin 11 which cooperating with the inclined slot 12 formed on the cam-ring 10 causes the horizontal pin 8 to slide along the arcuate slot 7. The inclined slot 12 is sloped from the apex of the cam-ring in the same direction both ways so that when'the hauling-ropeis in a horizontal position the radial pin 11 and consequently the horizon:

the horizontal pin 8 will travel to the right,

which makes in effect the length ofthe shorter arm 3 longer, and which necessarily increases the force of compression of the gripping jaws. When the hauling-rope re sumes a horizontal position, the pins come back to the original extreme'position which is nearest to the pivot-bolt 6.

On one side of the cam-ring 10 is provided integralv with it a pinion 13. The cam-ring together with the pinion 13 is rotatably mounted upon the small shaft 1% which is an eccentric extension of the main shaft 14, The pinion 13 engages internally with the toothed ring 15 which is formed at one end of the sleeve member 16. The sleeve member 16 is rigidly fixed to the hanger 18 by means of a key 17. In this way the rotating motion of the hanger is transmitted to the toothed ring 15.

The rear ends of the longer lever-arms 2 are pivotally connected to a sleeve member 20, whichis adjustably connected to another sleeve member 21 upon its screw-threaded extension 21, which in turnis keyed to the main shaft 1 1. By this construction the axis of rotation of the pinion and cam-ring is placed on a fixed relative position with respect to the system of lever-arms. V

In case the hauling-rope is horizontal the parts assume the relative positions shown in Fig. 1. When the hauling rope becomes inclined, the hanger, because of the weight which it carries, will rotate relatively to the system of lever-arms and the main shaft connected thereto. The sleeve member 16 together with the toothed ring 15., being keyed to the hanger 18 at its hub portion, will rotate and cause the pinion 13 and the cam-ring 10 to rotate. The diameter of the pinion 13 being of'a lesser dimension than that'of the toothed ring 15, the angle of rotation of the cam-ring; willthereby be magnified in an inverse ratio of the diame ters; That is to say, if the diameters are in the ratio or two to three, an inclination of the hauling-rope.equal to sixty degrees will cause a rotation of the cam-ring of ninety degrees which makes the radial pin 11 travel a distance along the inclined slot 12 corresponding'to a quarter length of the periphery of the cam-ring.

1n aerialropeways, it can safely be said that the inclination of the hauling-rope never exceeds sixty degrees. It is, there fore, sui 'iicient to provioe the inclined slot 12 for the quarter length of. the periphery on both sides of cam-ring 10. But to allow for the swinging motions of the hangeigby which angular displacement of the hanger may eventually overshoot the aforementioned limit I provide a short extension, say of forty-five degrees, extending straight downward on each extremity of the slot.

This allows arelative "maximum angular displacement of ninety degrees of the hanger from the position it will occupy when the hauling rope is in a horizontal position. i i

In Figs. 7 and 8 is shown amodification of my improved grip designed to be used in a double-ropeway system, in which the carriage wheels 33 which are adapted to roll along the track-rope 35 and which are provided on the system of carriage hinged on the pivot-bolt 6 are situated right above the said pivot-bolt. The rocking box 32 which is rotatably mounted on the wheel carriage is hinged .by means of a pair of supporting bars 30 on the pivot-bolt 6. The weight of the car together with itscontents is supported partly by the track-rope and partly by the hauling-rope. On arr'ving at a station small wheels 23, mounted on an upward extension of the arm 22 are raised by a pair of uncouplingzrails 27, whereby the gravitational force acting on the hanger 18 is trans mitted, without passing through the leverarms 2 and 3, directly to the said small wheels and the uncoupling rails 27. A slider 31 is provided at the central portion of the rocking box 32. The shaft 24 on which the wheels '23 aswell as the slider 31 are mounted slides vertically up and down alongthe aperture formed in therocking box 32. The action of the slider 31 is to maintain the wheel carriage always in an upright position. i

The grip, shown in Figs. 7 and S is, of course, of the same general construction as that of Fig. 1, with the difference that beprovided at a station correspond to a wheel running on one of the uncoupling rails in the double ropeway; system. These wheels being situated on one side of the car cannot be placed right above the hauling-rope 1 but must be placed at a position'sufficiently re- I QVQd iron) the hauling-rope so that they will not interfere with the-supporting roller 28 on the standard during the travel of the car. Itis, moreover, essential that the distance between the hauling rope l and the wheels 23 be kept constant, otherwise the gripping jaws may fail to engage the hauling-rope at startingor the wheels may derail on arriving at a station. To keep this distance substantially constant, the center of the two opposing gripping jaws must always lie in one and the same vertical plane, irrespectively whether the jaws are in operative gripping position or not. To accomplish this end, the terminal shaft 19 of the longer lever-arms 2 is placed far below the main shaft 14 on the same level with the center 1 of opposing jaws 4 and 5 when the same are in a fully released position as indicated in Fig. 4. In this case, the gripping jaws will just assume the right position to grip the hauling-rope. as soon as the car is freed from the suspension rail 27. I

lVhen the jaws are engaged with the hauling-rope and thewhole weight of the car falls upon it, the axial line of the sleeve member 16, to which the hanger 18 is rigidly keyed and which is at the same time the axis of rotation of the gyrating system, is arranged to pass through the center 1 of the gripping" jaws. By this arrangement no bending moment on the hauling-rope will be created as the hanger oscillates around the said axis.

In single-ropeway system, as is shown in Fig. 4, in order to minimize the oscillating motion of the car due to the sudden change of the point of suspension at starting and arrival a pair of running wheels 23 is usually rather closely situated to the haulingrope 1. These wheels, moreover, having between them agroup of lever-arms are placed far apart from each other; It is, therefore, necessary during the travel of the'car that the system comprising these wheels 23 and the carriage 22 be kept substantially in parallel relation to the hauling-rope 1, and that the said systenibe at once brought back to the said normal position as soon as the car is freed from the uncouplingrail 27 If this condition is not satisfied and if the system comprising wheels and their carriage stands vertically up it will be sure to collide with the supporting rollers, which will inevitably lead to disastrous consequences. In the devices of the kind heretofore employed, it has 368D usual to have recourse either to providing a sufliciently wide clearance between the wheels 23 and the hauling-rope 1 or to limit the inclination of the hauling-rope at the starting point of a station to a definite magnitude. Both of these methods are evidently only temporizing and, therefore, undesirable. I aim to obviate these deficiencies by fixing the system-of wheels resiliently to course be accomplished by any suitable means. In the preferred construction shown in the annexed figures I employ as the said resilient connection a doublespring-hinge 25 usually employed in architectural constructions, whichmay be located within the hollow space formed in the body of the main shaft 14 (Figs. 1 and 6). Ata station the wheels 23 run along the rail 27 (Fig. 3). lVhen the car is leaving the rail 27, the system of wheels by the resilient action of the spring device 25 will be brought back to its normal position parallel to thehauling-rope 1. In Fig. 6 the spring device 25 is shown more in detail, in which the wheel-carriage 22 is turnably mounted on the sleeve member 16 by means of a sleeve portion integral with the former. The 'double-spring-hinge 25 is provided in the hollow space formed in the body of the main shaft 14. Link 26 which is connected to one of the springs projects through the aperture formed in the said sleeve portion. The double-springhinge 25 by its resilient action always tries to maintain the wheel-carriage 22 at a defi nite position with regard to the main shaft 14, that is to say, to the system of leverarms. Arriving at a station, the system of wheels 28 by the presence. of the rail 27 is compelled to ride on the rail assuming a position parallel. to the same against theresilient action of the spring-device. This spring-device being wholly inclosed within the hollow space formed in the shaft is protected from damage.

While the invention is described herein with reference to a particular embodiment, it is not limited to the specific mechanism shown or described, since other modifications may readily be used without departing from the spirit and the underlying principle of this novel improvement, or the scope of the following claims.

Wha-t I claim is: r

1. In apparatus of the class described, the combination of a hauling rope, a carriage, ropegripping means connected with the carriage, means for translating the force of gravity acting through the carriage upon the gripping means to make the grip effective and means operative to vary the gripping action of the said grippingmeans as a' function of the angle of inclination of the hauling rope.

2. In apparatus of the class described, the combination with a'hauling rope, a carriage, a pair of level" arms of different lengths pivotally connected at one end with the care riage, pivotally interconnected intermediate their ends and formed into gripping jaws at their free ends, of means operative to vary the relative lengths of the said levers as a function of the angle of inclination of the hauling rope.

,3, In an apparatus of the class described,

the combination with a hauling rope, a carriage and gripping means comprislng two lever arms of different lengths pivoted separately to the carriage at one end and pivot ally interconnected intermediate their ends, the free ends being formed into grlpping free ends being formed into gripping jaws,

of means operative to vary the effective length of the shorter lever arm asa function of the angle of inclination of the hauling rope. V

5. In apparatus of the class described, a

grip comprising two lever-arms having a common axis, thelr shorter ends belng formed into jaws and their longer ends pivotally connected tothe carriage, and means whereby one ofthe said pivotal points is movedautomatically in such a manner that the effective length of that particular leverarm may be varied as the inclination of the hauling-rope varies.

6. Inapparatus of the class described, a

grip comprising two lever-arms ofdifferent lengths having a common axis, their shorter ends being formed into jaws and their longer ends pivotally connected to the carriage, and means whereby the pivotal point of the shorter lever-arm is moved automatically in such a manner that the effective length of the said lever-arm may be varied as the inclination of the hauling-rope varies 7. In apparatus ofthe class described, a grip comprising two lever-arms of different lengths having a common axis, their shorter ends being formed into jaws, 'a main shaft to which the longer end of the longer leverarms is pivotally connected, a hanger member turnably mounted upon the said main shaft, a cam-ring'provided with an inclined slot and connected with the said hanger in driving relation. and an annular member turnably mounted upon the said cam-ring,

being provided with a horizontal pin slida; ble along an arcuate slot formed on the longer end of the shorter lever-arm and provided also with a radial pin cooperating with the said inclined slot on the saidcamring.

8. In apparatus of the class described, a grip comprising two lever-arms of different lengths having a common axis, their shorter ends being formed into jaws, a main shaft to which the longer end of the longer leverarm is pivotally connected, ahanger member turnably mounted upon the said main shaft, a cam-ringprovided with an inclined slot and connected in driving relation with the said hanger, and an annular member turnably mounted upon the said cam-ring being provided with a horizontal pin slid able along an 'arcuate slot formed on'the longer end of the shorter lever armand provided also with a radial pin cooperating with the said inclined slot on the said camring, the said driving connectionibetween the hanger member and the cam-ring come 'beingprovided with a horizontal pin slid able along an arcuate slot formed on the longer end of the shorter lever-arm and provided also with a radial pin cooperating I with the said inclined slot on the said camring, the said driving connection between the hanger and the cam-ring comprising an Vinteriorly toothed ring rigidly connected to the hanger and a pinion of a lesser diameter integralwith the said cam-ring.

10. In apparatus of the class described, a grip comprising two lever-arms of different lengths having a common axis,their shorter ends being formed into jaws, a main shaft to which the longer end of the longer leverarm is pivotally connected,a hanger member turnably mounted upon the said main shaft, a cam-ring provided-with an inclined slot andconnected with the said hanger by a combination of an interiorlytoothed ring and a pinion meshing with it, and wheels mounted on a carriage attached tothe main r shaft by a resilient means, the said resilient means consisting of a double-spring hinge provided in a hollow space of the said main shaft. i

11. In apparatusvof the class described, a grip comprising two sets-of lever-arms, the shorter ends of each of the said sets being formed into a common jaw cooperating in gripping the hauling-rope, the longer ends of one of the said sets being longer than the longer ends of the other set, each set of the saidlonger ends being pivotally connected to the carriage by a common pivotal point, and means whereby one of the said pivotal points is moved, automatically in such a manner that the effective length of that particular lever-arm maybe varied as 12. In apparatus of the class described, a the said pivotal point being situated far begrip comprising two sets of lever-arms, the low the horizontal line passing through the 10 shorter ends of each of the said sets being center of the gripping jaws when same are formed into a common jaw cooperating in engaged with the said hauling-rope. gripping the hauling-rope, longer ends of In testimony whereof, I afiix my signaone of the said sets being longer than the ture. other set, the said longer ends of the longer set being pivotally connected to a main shaft YUSUKE TAMAMURA. 

